Four U.S. oil companies are among 10 firms that have urged the Bush administration to remove restrictions on business with Viet Nam.
The companies are Caterpillar Inc., Boeing Commercial Airplanes, American International Group, Hunt Oil Co., Amoco Production Co., Windmere Corp., Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc., Phillips Petroleum Co., Coudart Bros., and United Technologies Corp.
The companies, members of U.S.-Viet Nam Trade Council, visited Viet Nam in April. Richard Solomon, assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said they made 11 great strides toward resolving the humanitarian issues lingering from the Viet Nam war, the last major obstacle to normalizing relations with Viet Nam."
They wrote President Bush, "We hope you will now begin to address the concerns of the U.S. business community and reduce the restrictions on commercial activity in Viet Nam.
"We see no inherent conflict between these American interests, as we would hope that an increase in the number of Americans with independent government and private contacts in Viet Nam could augment official efforts on behalf of U.S. military personnel still missing in action.
"The U.S. economic sanctions with respect to Viet Nam have become unilateral with our allies and trade partners investing heavily and trading vigorously. Accordingly, the effect of the American embargo is not to deny Viet Nam access to western technology and financing but rather to penalize U.S. companies to the benefit of our foreign competitors. The U.S. is rapidly losing ground and forfeiting to foreign competition a market where we could have a competitive edge.
"In view of this, we encourage you to accelerate the lifting of economic restrictions on business transactions with Viet Nam and allow American companies and individuals to freely enter this growing market."
After Solomon's trip, the U.S. permitted telephone service between the two countries to resume and allowed American companies to sell medicine and other humanitarian goods to the Vietnamese.
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